Save Me
by Circius
Summary: Hinata has always been alone, no one had ever cared until one day her life is changed forever...NejixHina, will NOT be an incest! Will continue if I get some reviews! AU...ish.
1. Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters (though I want to, 'cause if I did, there would be some major get togethers going on!)**

Save Me

Chapter 1: Memories

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She could remember the first time he saved her; when he protected her in his arms. It was back before either of them knew about the Hyuuga's twisted innerworkings, back when they were friends, back before the hate. 

She recollected, she was not even 3, but she could recall the night when one of the biggest storms that had ever hit Konoha arrived. The Hyuuga manor, her safe sanctuary, trembled and groaned underneath the tempest's wrath. She heard the thunder boom and the lightning crash, and hid by herself in the corner of her room, flinching at the noise and light, crying silently, alone.

She was always alone.

Another blaze of lighting flashed through her window, lighting up her room. She let out an unheard scream and ran out into the hallway in her fear. She tripped over her own feet, and fell with a 'thud' against the wall. But she stood up again, and ran down the hall where those of the main branch slept, down to somewhere where the lighting would be unseen.

Down flights of countless stairs, the silent tears coming at a different pace then the rain on the roof above her. She was so scared, she couldn't even think like her father wanted her to. She just wanted for the bright flashes and noises to stop, she wanted to go somewhere dark and lonely. Somewhere like the quarters of the branch house. She fell into a heap at the end of the hall, tired of running, but her heart still pounding in fear.

Right in front of his door.

* * *

He could remember the first time she saved him. Saved him from his nightmares-the pain of his burden. 

He had been turning around fitfully in his sleep, constantly reliving that day-when he had been marked-the wrenching pain, his screams, his tears-but awakening suddenly to a small thump outside the room he shared with his father.

He slid open the door slowly, not sure if the noise wasn't something caused by the storm. But those thoughts left him as he saw his little cousin collapsed on the floor. He instantly ran to Hinata and kneeled down beside her, shaking her small frame as he called her name.

"Hinata-sama, Hinata-sama!"

She didn't stir, so he ran back into his room, where he knew he could probably get his father to help him, but stopped when he heard her whisper his name.

"Ne-Neji-nii-san?"

He turned around to see her standing upright, like the ninja she was, then scurrying over to him, looking terrified.

"Hinata-sama! Are you alright?"

He had asked her as he looked her over for wounds or anything out of the ordinary.

"Hai-I'm fine-the thunder it-just scares me-oh, I'm so sorry Neji nii-san! I tried to be strong, really, I did, but the storm it's just-"

By this time she was crying again, and he gently wrapped his arms around her soft, frail body, gently stroking her hair to calm her sobbing.

"Shh…Hinata-sama, its okay."

He said calmly, trying to comfort his terrified cousin.

"The rain isn't scary, it doesn't hurt; it brings life."

She looked up to him with her tear stained face.

"What do you mean Neji nii-san?"

He stood up and grabbed her hand,

"I'll show you."

He pulled her behind him as they went up the stairs and out into the courtyard in the middle of the Hyuuga estate. By that time though, the rain was not coming down as hard, and had changed from a hurricane to a summer lightning storm, but Neji was careful as he led his cousin from the canopy of one tree to another.

From the courtyard, he took her through the gateway that led to the training grounds outside of the village. When they got to the area of the memorial stone, by the lake, they were both soaking wet and quite cold, but Neji none the less stood in front of Hinata, making sure she didn't see the clearing yet. Then he stepped aside.

"Look."

Was all he said, and when she did, the Hyuuga heiress gasped.

The rain seemed to be dancing on the lake, making beautiful patterns and distorting the water's usually smooth surface. The trees and the flowers were glistening with new rain water, dripping with it, yet shining with the new life the storm had brought.

Hinata remembered how earlier that week everything was so dry and hot, when all of the plants looked almost dead with thirst. But now the whole forest was a beautiful place, and it made both the Hyuuga's feel as though they hadn't a care in the world, though Hinata was the one that showed her excitement.

She ran out from beneath the tree that they were under and into the middle of the memorial stone's clearing, soaking up the rain and the life. Lightning crackled in the air around her, never hitting her, but instead seeming to join her in her dance as she swirled and swung under the night sky.

But then she stopped, and hung her head to face the ground. At first Neji didn't notice the tears until he looked at her more closely with his Byakugan. He then ran out from under his leafy canopy to his cousin, whose mood had changed so suddenly.

"Hinata-sama, what's wrong?"

She still kept her head face down, but she mumbled

"I wonder…Did…did my mother ever like running around in the rain?"

Neji knew how the death of Hinata's mother, who was assassinated a few weeks ago, still plagued the younger Hyuuga, even at her age. The heiress had remembered her mother in her joy of watching the rain fall and give life.

"I wonder sometimes-if I'm going to-to die like she did, at the hands of an assassin, of someone who I don't even know-who just wants to kill me because of my rank."

She was smarter then the average 3 year old, she knew how the ninja life worked even at her young age; she had already been scarred with the brutality of it. Neji felt sorry for her, though he couldn't relate, his mother had died in his childbirth, and his father was still alive. But nevertheless, he knew about pain. He wrapped his arms around her for the second time that night.

"Don't worry Hinata-sama; everything is okay-"

"No, it's not Neji nii-san, something bad is going to happen, I know it!"

She began crying again, the tears melding with the rain dripping from her hair.

"No it's not Hinata,"

He responded, dropping the suffix.

"Nothing is ever going to happen, because I will always protect you."

"Always?"

She looked up at him with eyes full of trust and hope, still slightly marred by her crying. The eyes of a Hyuuga, that were suppose to be hateful and cold - but she made them loving and warm, bringing color and beauty to what seemed to be made of icy stone. Simply looking into her eyes eased his pain, and made the nightmares disappear.

"Always."

He held on to her tightly, the one he swore he would always protect, and felt her fast beating heart next to his.

"I promise."

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**Whoooo-hoooo!!!!! The first chappie is doooone!!!! Partayy!!! -cough- ahem -cough- Okers, I'm done with my done-ness(doneness?). Anyway, I feel really good about writing up this story, as I have been entertaining the idea of a NejiHina for a long time. I actually like the pairing, and in this story, to help all of you incest haters like it-Hinata is not actually going to be Hiashi's daughter. Yay! What's actually going to happen is-well you'll have to keep on reviewing and reading to find out:P**

**Loves,**

**Zephyr**

**P.S. For everyone who has been reading "White Rose" that will but updated very soon!**


	2. Scars

**Disclaimer: Same as in first chapter**

**...Note: Everyone on the rookie 9 is now 16, Gai's team is 17...**

Save Me

Chapter 2: Scars

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Hinata lounged on one of the many roofs that were the upper roads in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, happily soaking up the sun and thinking as she relaxed during her usual half hour of lunch break before she had to get back to training. Her long hair was spread all over the roof that she lay upon, the light catching the hidden glints of indigo and purple.

She sighed; everyone had told her how she had grown up to be a beautiful young woman, yet here she was, without somebody that cared about her. Not like family or friends of course, but something more than either of that, she wanted someone to love her, more than anything in the world. Her heart ached with that want, there seemed to be a gaping hole that desperately needed to be filled with it.

She felt that only he could fill that hole.

How many times had she stared at him, with his golden hair, and eyes bluer then the sea, his exciting and determined personality-that seemed to affect everyone around him.

But he never so much as looked at her.

He only had eyes for Sakura. Haruno, Sakura-with eyes like little green emeralds and hair the color of the flowers she was named for, silky smooth. Sakura, who was everything she wasn't- Perky, happy, peppy, smart. Perfect Sakura. Hinata knew she didn't have even the slightest chance, not against Konoha's best cherry blossom in full bloom.

She sighed again at her own stupidity. She knew that she could never have him, and yet she always hoped for him anyway; she always saved a place in her heart that was always waiting for him to fill.

She was a little surprise at the soft thump of feet as a pair of ninja shoes landed gracefully next to her head. She slowly cracked open one lavender eye, then another, for she didn't want to leave her daydreams just yet. But when she saw who was next to her, she quickly pulled herself to full awareness and let her legs dangle off the edge of her roof as she sat straight up.

"He-Hello Neji nii-san."

"Hinata-sama."

He nodded to her, but she still couldn't help but give the slightest flinch at his words, hoping that it would go unnoticed, but of course it didn't, not with the best talent in Hyuuga. She hated hearing the word "sama" come out of his mouth, because she knew how he hated it, she knew all the pain he had gone through, about how he used to loath her and the rest of the main branch family since the incident with his father. She remembered everything that happened at the chunnin exams, she remembered with perfect clarity.

It sucked that her memory was like that. Only remember the bad, never the good. But then again maybe that was because of the way she had been raised.

She shut her eyes tightly again as those memories now surfaced in the many faceted windows of her mind. The yells, the hits, the bruises that never came from training, the marks she hid under her heavy coat, the insults, the shame,

Their eyes.

Of course what happened between her and the Main Branch stayed within the Main Branch, which was why she had no maids or servants (no gossip), and why she always met her father alone.

Not even Neji knew what had happened to her when she was little, for she was forbidden to talk about it, and of course she never did, because when one is watched by a Hyuuga one would always do as they were told. But then again, he probably wouldn't have cared, he seemed to stop caring after the death of his father, after he turned into one of them, with their eyes that she hated, the eyes she wished she never had.

_

* * *

__Flashback:_

_She walked to the academy as quickly as she could, glad that Neji was in the year above her, and glad that he had left early, so she didn't have to stutter out to the human lie detector an untrue excuse to why she had the huge purple bruise across one side of her face. _

_She had made sure her hair was in disarray this morning just like all the other days when she had facial markings; she fooled everybody by just keeping her head down, and never showing that side of her face, which is what she usually did, so it wasn't out of the ordinary._

_When she got there, she was greeted as usual by Sakura and Ino, who were yelling at each other-as usual._

"_GO AWAY INO-PIG, I WAS HERE FIRST! Oh! Hi Hinata-chan!"_

"_Hel-"_

"_YOU HERE FIRST!!! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!! How are you Hinata-chan?"_

_Both of the bickering girls gave her a warm smile and stopped arguing for a millisecond (if that is even possible) and Hinata pulled her head up to return the favor, but in doing so, her hair fell back from her face, and the large sunset colored bruise was shown to everyone._

"_Oh gods!!!! Hinata-chan what happened to you?!?!?!"_

_Hinata thought fast for a story that she could tell the two terribly worried girls._

"_Oh it's-ah-nothing, I just-just injured m-myself training with my family yesterday, th-that's all."_

_It was partly true, as the reason her father had hit her was because she had messed up a combination in her personal training. She smiled, which twisted her face into something worse than what it already was, but then realizing what her face must have looked like, hurried to her seat as Sakura and Ino had sighed with an "Oh, that's all it was!" and started bickering again._

_She thought that the days troubles were over for now, and opened her books, but then she felt a hand tapping on her shoulder, she looked up and gasped._

"_Oh-I-Iruka-sensei! Gomen (sorry) for anything I did wrong!"_

_She said instantly; she always apologized before she spoke, it became a habit at her own home, as she had to apologize about almost everything she did._

"_You didn't do anything wrong Hinata. I just heard from Sakura that you had hurt yourself yesterday, and I would like to have a look, as I am quite handy with healing jutsus, because you have to be when you're teaching a roomful of ninja to be!"_

_He laughed, but she didn't join in, she was too worried about what her father would say if he saw that her injury was healed._

"_Oh, no Iruka-sensei, it's just a-a training injury, an-and the way of a Hyuuga is to en-endure everything!"_

_She gave another smile (maybe more so of a grimace), and went back to her work as Iruka left. But she made sure that not a single soul for the rest of the week saw her face, which finally healed of its own accord._

_She was glad that no one realized or remembered that the Hyuuga's gentle fist style never went near the face._

* * *

Even now, at her age, the same things would happen to her, with no difference, except for the fact that they hurt much less then they had at the beginning, since she was now so used to it.

She opened her eyes again to see Neji discerning her expression. Sometimes she did wonder if he had the ability to read her mind. He had become much nicer after the chunnin exams, and they had built another friendship, maybe not a stable one, but better then what they had before. But then again, neither of them could replace what they had lost.

They had lost what they had when they stood in the rain.

* * *

**...This Chapter is dedicated to all the child victims of senseless violence...**

**

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****Wow, I feel really sad and emo, this was a depressing chappie to write. **

**Heeeeee!!! What will I write next?!?!?!? I will probably elaborate on this chapter later on though…**

**Read and Review!!!**

**Loves, **

**Zephyr**

**P.S. Thank you so much for the reviews everyone!!! Keep on reviewing and I'll keep on writing!**

**P.S.S. I will really start getting into the storyline next chapter, so review or I will not write!!!!**


	3. Words of Fate

**Disclaimer: The same as in the first chapter**

* * *

Save Me

Chapter 3: Words of Fate

* * *

"Ah-is there something that y-you need Neji nii-san?"

Hinata asked, now that she had left the past and came back to the present, fully aware of her surroundings.

"Hiashi-sama sent me to bring you to the manor, and to excuse you from your training."

He said, stoic as usual, looking straight ahead. Hinata always wondered what he was watching when he stared somewhere else while he was talking. He could have been looking out for anything that might be dangerous, but that couldn't be a reason because of his Byakugan.

"Ah-yes-of course."

Hinata stumbled over her words as she pulled herself up from her skyline perch. She turned around to see Neji now watching her. She looked at him with question written all over her face. He turned around and said,

"Hiashi-sama ordered me to escort you personally."

"Don't you have training today? I-I know you have the Jonin exams in a few months-"

"No."

Hinata knew right then that he did have training, but Hiashi told him to skip today to _escort_ her, and that he had to be present for anything that Hiashi had to say to his daughter. And if Neji was called from his training, it must mean that the whole clan would be there, and that it was highly important. It was pointless talking to Neji when he was in one of his "I hate the clan" moods. This much she knew because she was one of the very few people who could see beyond Neji's icy cold demeanor.

"Hai l-let's go."

She said, and followed her cousin through the bustling streets to the huge Hyuuga estate.

For some odd reason, every time Hinata entered this torturous place, she felt like laughing, and even now, with all of the seriousness going on, she suppressed giggles. She guessed it was because that her unconscious mind thought it was funny, how her safe sanctuary changed into her private hell in the matter of years that she grew up. It was just one of those weird mind things that made her feel like she had some serious issues.

But not noting what was going on in her mind, Hinata walked solemnly and coolly in front of her cousin once they entered the Estate's gates, as their custom dictated. The gates clanged shut behind her, which had never happened before, and she felt all of the Main Branch's eyes looking at her with even more malice and hate then usual. She shivered with the feeling that something was very, very wrong. All of a sudden she had become a trapped animal in the walls of her own home.

Or a caged bird.

* * *

The whole clan had gathered in the main hall, Main branch in the front of the room, where her father was sitting regally, the Cadet in the back and the sides, watching with interest what was causing all the discord and tension in the Main Branch. Neji left from behind her to stand at his usual spot and left her feeling unprotected and alone.

She was about to bow to her father, the head, but paused when she saw Hanabi standing at his right side, her usual place. She looked at her younger sister's face and saw all the pain that was showing as Hanabi stared back with sympathy. She never looked at Hinata with sympathy, even when Hinata was being hit or bruised. Something was worse than wrong. Hinata bowed after her pause, and not knowing where to stand, backed up to the center of the room, and felt all their eyes on her. She waited for her father to speak.

"Thank you all for coming here today for this important assembly. I am sorry that I could not have made this wait, but we have a crisis in our hands that will be resolved today, an issue that has never before occurred in the hallowed walls of this clan's house."

Hinata had begun to tremble. Crisis? An issue that has never before occurred?

"This morning, I had paid homage to my late wife, Hiziah's shrine, (A/N Hiziah is obviously the name of Hinata's mother. (Hanabi has a different mother)) As is dictated by our laws, but when I was leaving, I stumbled against a loose cobblestone that to my Byakugan looked normal and firmly in place."

The crowed began muttering, there was only one known jutsu that could fool a Hyuuga's eye, and it had been gotten rid of centuries ago. Hiashi held up his hand, and the impenetrable silence returned.

"I was as shocked as you were-and immediately pried up the stone, and I found the diary of Hyuuga Hiziah herself, who had apparently learned the jutsu that was used to fool all of us for these many years."

Hinata, who was gathering enough courage to ask why she wasn't standing in her usual spot, froze, taken up by cold fear. Her mother's diary?

"Theses records are in my private chambers, as I did not see the point of bringing the fragile documents to this meeting. What the problem is though, is what was written in that diary."

More muttering was heard, but then the quiet returned, as everyone besides those who had already knew were eager to hear what the head had to say next.

"It told the intricate story of how Hiziah was not a true blooded child of the main branch, but born of an affair that the late Hyuuga Hraina of the Cadet branch, had with an outsider, a traveling nin from an unknown village, which contributed to Hiziah and Hinata's oddly colored hair."

Hinata's hand instantly went to her tresses, which now seemed to stand out so much against the dark chestnut of everyone else's, even more so against all of their eyes, that seemed to be piercing straight into her mind.

"Hraina, not wanting her newborn to be scarred with the curse mark, used an intricate genjutsu and convinced my father's cousin, Hyuuga Hintai, that Hiziah was her daughter born with a union with her husband. So on both Hintai and Hraina's word, a great celebration was held for the birth of who would probably become the wife to the head of the Hyuuga clan, as custom dictated."

All of the clan was watching Hiashi intently now, and Hinata's hands were clasped tightly around one another, in fear of what might happen, like a silent devotion to whatever god might be listening.

But the gods were not on her side today.

"The years passed, and both Hintai and Hraina passed on, but Hraina refused to die unless she spoke to her daughter, and it was then, in her private chambers, that she told Hiziah her true heritage and of her birth. Hiziah was of course shocked at first, but was then inclined to believe Hraina, for that would explain why her Byakugan wasn't as strong as others in our clan, and of her looks."

Hinata was trembling now, staring determinedly at the ground beneath her shoes. How could this possibly be happening! And why to her? What had she done that was so wrong, that she needed to be punished so?

"After I read this piece of information, I searched the rooms of Hraina's parents and found her mother's personal records, and it became apparent that Hiziah's mother was also born from an affair outside the clan, and her mother too. It was mere luck that it wasn't found out about, as it was luck that their Byakugan stayed with them, because as you all know, it is a recessive gene."

Most of the Hyuugas nodded their heads, while some of the elder ones were still in a shock.

"But that wasn't all. After I traced these scandals, the instigators of which are all already dead, I went back to reading the words my wife had written, and it was then that I found the worst part of it all."

Hiashi looked directly at Hinata with hate etched in every line of his feature; it was something that scared her more than anything before.

"The scandal of having children with someone outside of the clan apparently runs in the veins of all of the females that were in Hiziah's family, for Hinata was the product of adultery as well."

A few of the more emotional Hyuugas let out stifled gasps, while others were heard muttering.

"How could beautiful, innocent, Hiziah have done something like that?!"

"Poor Hiashi…"

Hinata noticed that not a single word was said in her favor. But Hiashi interrupted everyone by finishing his speech.

"And as such, she has barely one hundredth of Hyuuga blood! It was a matter of shear luck that she got the Byakugan at all, which also explains her weakness in the face of others her age, and her strangeness in behavior, for as we all know, shyness and pacifistic ideals are nothing that a true Hyuuga would consider being just! Or we wouldn't be the most respected clan in all of Konoha!"

Every word felt like another gaping wound in her heart, tearing and ripping her apart on the inside. She felt like a monster. She wasn't Hyuuga; she wasn't anything but a hybrid from the foolishness of her ancestors.

"Since she is not my daughter, and since she has such a little amount of Hyuuga blood in her, Hinata will become of member of the Cadet Branch in three sets of the sun, at dawn of the fourth day, at my decree as Hyuuga Hiashi, the head of Hyuuga. The only reason I'm giving her that much honor is because she still does retain something of the Byakugan."

Hinata noted, like everyone else, how her fath-no-Hiashi had left off the Hyuuga in her name, as a supreme insult to her. Her heart then dropped like a stone as she fully understood the meaning of his words.

'The-the cadet branch?'

She thought, her mind not wanting to believe it. Three days until-

She fell to her knees, bowing to the ground

"Father, No please, this is not something that I had control over! I beg you to give me a chance-"

"SILENCE!!!"

He yelled as a flare of his chakara flashed out and knocked her backwards.

"Maybe if you had been stronger Hinata, I might have overlooked this. But as you aren't, it is quite clear that you are nothing but a product of pleasure, and you will never be considered my daughter. From this day foreword, Hyuuga Hanabi is the chosen heir to our clan! The celebration will begin tonight!"

He spoke only to her at the beginning, and then raised his voice so that everyone could hear his proclamation at the end. As the rest of the clan left the room, already wishing good luck to Hanabi and planning the party, he motioned for the two Cadet branch men that were his personal guards, the big and bulky men that they were, and said

"Place the whole Hyuuga estate on lock down until this is all over, we don't need any of her friends or the Hokage to know about this. Then lock _her_ up tightly in her mother's old rooms, where she will remain there for her three days before we mark her. After this is over, I want every thing of Hinata and her maternal ancestors burned. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hai."

They grunted, and turned towards Hinata. They both then stood on either side of her, not holding her, but all the same silently telling her to move. She obliged, then looked back to where Neji was standing, frozen to the spot, and for once, met his discerning gaze directly. He had activated his Byakugan and she knew that if she mouthed something, he would know what she was saying, so she began to move her lips in a silent farewell.

"You were right all along-I-I am worthless. I am sorry, but you were even more Hyuuga than I am. Goodbye forever, Neji."

She knew as well as he did that Hiashi would make sure that she didn't survive the sealing, those kind of "accidents" had happened before. She saw his face for the first time without his emotions hidden; he was just as shocked as she was-his knuckles almost white with his grip against one of the railings in the hall that everyone had stood behind. One of the guards gently shoved her; she guessed it was hard to go against 16 years of training. 16 years…wasn't her birthday just last week? It seemed like it wasn't even her now, but someone else that she had watched, so happy. She felt as thought she was on a different level of reality, like this wasn't even real. But the sights, the smell, the sounds, and her aching heart told her that this wasn't a dream, but only an all too painful reality. She turned around and walked out the door, to her makeshift prison,

Where her wings would be clipped,

Where she would die in a cage.

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**Thankies so much for the reviews everyone!!! Keep it up so that I will keep writing!!! (I promise you that I will stop if I don't get more, because my goal is to get at least a hundred on this story!)**

**It was so hard thinking of all of those names that started with an 'H'!!! Now that I think about it, Neji is the only one in the whole clan whose name starts with another letter! Well, that just shows how cool he is.**

**Well now you know how they aren't related, or if they are, it is in the slightest amount known to mankind. What will happen next….Review and you will find out : P**

**Loves,**

**Zephie**


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